LAST UPDATE | 13 Nov

FINE GAEL HAS promised to cap the cost of childcare at €200 per child per month within its first year in Government if re-elected, as the three largest parties go to battle on the issue.

Launching their plans today in Dublin, Fine Gael Justice Minister Helen McEntee also pledged an additional cap of €600 per family for families with more than three children.

“It will be costed in the upcoming Budget and we intend to introduce it immediately,” McEntee said. 

Childcare has become a battleground in this election, with most of the main political parties landing on a figure of approximately €200 per month for childcare as they attempt to win over voters.

Sinn Féin has pledged a €10 per child per day model, with a cap of €200 per month, while Fianna Fáil has also promised a €200 per month model. 

Currently families pay on average €800 per month per child. 

Sinn Féin has pledged that their €200 cap would be put in place by September 2025.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin on the otherhand, would not commit to a specific date for implementation, instead telling reporters at his party’s manifesto launch earlier this week that the reduction in cost would be achieved over a five year term in government. 

Meanwhile, as part of Fine Gael’s children’s policy, the party have also pledged to create 30,000 new early learning places in public early learning and school age care services by 2030. 

It has also pledged to release an action plan on accessible, affordable and high quality early childhood education and care within the first 100 days of government, if re-elected. 

Another major plank of Fine Gael children’s policy is a pledge to introduce Pay-Related Parents Benefit.

Under this proposal, the rate of parents benefit will be linked to a mother or father’s income in a bid to encourage them to spend more time with their newborn children.

The document, entitled ‘Giving our children the best start in life’, also commits to expanding the Hot School Meals programme to every school in the country and introducing a pilot programme to tackle child hunger during the school holidays.

This pilot would be launched next summer if Fine Gael returns to government, according to the party.

Elsewhere, the proposals also pledge to strengthen Tusla’s child protection powers, in part by boosting staff and resources. 

At the launch today, the party played a video which showed Taoiseach Simon Harris answering questions from a group of school aged children about Fine Gael’s plans to help parents with the costs of raising a family. 

In the promotional video, the Taoiseach asked the children: “What do people need to do to make this happen?” 

The children chant in response: “Vote number 1… Vote Fine Gael”. 

At one point during the press conference, TD Neale Richmond was asked what Fine Gael plans to do to attract more early-years childcare educators into the sector.

He said his party will work with the sector to make sure staff are paid fairly and added: “I’ll put on record, I love teachers so much I married one…It’s about making sure they stay in the sector and are rewarded for their work.” 

When asked if he would commit to raising minimum wage in the sector to €15 (as has been pledged by The Labour Party), Richmond said he wouldn’t “get into specifics” because “that’s not my job”. 

“We’re not getting into auction politics here, we’re saying there is quite a clear process of how you agree a minimum salary,” Richmond said. 

He added however that he would expect that an increase of about €2 would be needed. Currently the minimum wage in the sector is €13.65.